Lost
by ladeedadeedadeedadeeda
Summary: ...But then New Kid Swifty comes along, and everything changes. Everyone thinks Swifty is so cute, so nice, so funny, so talented, and Bumlets finds himself fading more and more into the background... Full Summery Inside
1. Prologue

**Summery:** Specs, Dutchy, and Bumlets have been best friends forever. Even once the former two get together nothing chnges much. But then New Kid Swifty comes along, and everything changes. Everyone thinks Swifty is so cute, so nice, so funny, so talented, and Bumlets finds himself fading more and more into the background. Feeling hurt, lost, and abandoned, Bumlets returns to old habits he thought he had left behind years ago. Even as he spirals deeper and deeper into depression and self loathing, no one seems to notice, and all Bumlets can do is pretend that everything is still alright. But just when he thinks there is no hope left for him, the most unexpected person reaches out and pulls him out of the abyss…

Prologue

"_You can't tell Mom and Dad. Ever." _

_ "I know," Dominic said, "I'm not stupid."_

_ His older brother Landon stretched his mouth into a wide, toad-like grin. "You sure about this?" He asked one last time, "Once you're in, there's no backing out."_

_ Dominic hesitated, then nodded, "I-I know... but..." But this was the only way his beloved older brother would acknowledge his existence. "But... you're the one who asked me anyways. And besides, I need the money." Lies._

_ Landon snorted, "I hear ya little bro," he said, running a fat hand through his thin blonde hair, "I hear you. Mom and Dad," he shook his head in disappointment. _

Mom and Dad are amazing_, Dominic thought defensively. _They saved me. They saved all of us_. He nodded, "So... I'm in...?" he asked uncomfortably._

_ "You're in," Landon said, flashing his ugly grin again. "I'm glad you decided to join little bro, I've had a tidy number of fellas asking about you, and you know I hate to disappoint..."_

_ "T-there was?" Dominic asked nervously, "O-oh..."_

_ "Yeah, but don't worry buddy," Landon clapped him on the back, "I'm going to start you out easy. Give ya a friend of mine. Alex, he's had his eye on you for a long while now, and since he's my best friend I want you to make him feel real good. You hear? Don't worry little bro, he might have some interesting requests for ya, but he'll be... he'll be good to you."_

_ Dominic nodded nervously, "I-is he hear right now?"_

_ "You bet I am," a voice, slightly higher than Landon's, but much lower than Dominic's was, called out. _

_ Dominic turned, and his heart sunk a little as he took in the tall, slim, well-muscled boy who stood in the doorway, twirling a pair of handcuffs._

_ Dominic hadn't expected his first job to happen right away. He gave his older brother a slightly panicked look-the handcuffs made him nervous, but Landon greeted the boy, Alex, with a friendly man-hug, and then pushed Dominic towards him. Dominic stumbled forward, and Alex wrapped an arm around his waist. He smiled down at Dominic in a feral, almost predatory, way._

_ "You go easy on my baby brother," Landon grinned, "Don't you go making him cry... not tonight at least..."_

_ "No promises," Alex winked, "But I'll try."_

_ Some how Dominic didn't find that very reassuring._

_ "Come on honey," Alex pushed Dominic ahead of him. Dominic blushed as the older boy visibly studied his backside; specifically the lower aspects of it, then slapped his ass. "Cute bum hon.," he said._

_ Dominic turned an even deeper shade of red, and didn't say anything._

_ Landon seemed be considering something, "Dom," he said, seriously, "You know we don't use real names here."_

_ Dominic nodded. He wasn't sure why that was, but he wasn't about to question his older brother._

_ Alex bounced on his toes a little, "Ooooooh, name him Cutiebum!" _

_ Landon shook his head, "That hasn't got the right ring to it," he said. "How about... Bumlets." Landon smirked as he studied his brother's form, "Yeah, that's good. Our little Bumlets."_

_ Alex nodded his approval, "I like it." He gave Dominic's backside another quick squeeze, making the 14-year-old jump in an odd combination of nerves and fright, "Bumlets. Come on little Bumlets, I'll show you a good time tonight... Or maybe you'll show me a good time. We'll see." _

_ Alex may have said he'd try not to make Dominic cry that night, but if you had asked Dominic, he would have said that it hadn't seemed to him that the high school senior had tried too terribly hard. Of course, later he'd realize that compared to some other boys, compared to the things Alex himself would do after that first time, Alex had been almost gentle. _

_ "You're so good baby," Alex grunted as he thrust in._

_ Dominic bit his lip to stop himself from crying in pain. He felt Alex's sharp, sharp nails-so sharp it was almost as if he'd filed them to a point-rake down his back. _

_ He tasted blood as he tried to stop himself from screaming out in pain, as he normally would. He'd told Alex no, told Alex the risk of getting caught was too big, but had Alex listened? No. And had Landon stepped in? No. Alex was his best friend, and a paying costumer. Bumlets was nothing but his annoying little freshman brother. Nothing but another one of his dozen or so whores he'd rent out to the boys at school. _

_ He couldn't stop a whimper of pain to release, and then, as if that one tiny crack in the dam had released the entire flood, he screamed. _

_ There was the sound of tiny feet running down the hall, and then the door was thrown open, "Domi, are you ok?"_

_ Dominic half turned, looking past Alex, who hadn't stopped laughing, and thrusting, and scratching at the sound of the door, and crying out in a different kind of pain at the sight of his precious little sister, Marie, standing there in the door way, looking disgusted, and horrified at the sight. _Leave _he mouthed to her. She stared for another second, then turned and fled, allowing the door to slam shut._

_ Then, as if that bit of unwelcome excitement, and panic on Dominic's part, was all he'd needed, it was all over for Alex. He gave Dominic a kiss on the cheek, as if he hadn't spent the past hour sadistically scratching at Dominic's back whilst fucking him, dressed, and left the house, whistling. _

_ "Marie," Dominic said softly, once he had dressed and left his room. _

_ As expected, she wasn't far, and as soon as he called her name, she seemed to appear, as if she'd popped up out of nowhere. "What were you doing?" she asked, looking half curious, half disgusted, half horrified._

_ "You're not stupid," Dominic said sullenly, "What do you think we were doing?" he asked defensively._

_ Her face fell, and Dominic felt instantly bad. She was only 12. Really still just a kid._

_ "Sorry," he mumbled._

_ "Why?" she asked softly._

_ Dominic shifted nervously. He knew he owed her an explanation, but he really wasn't sure how to start. "L-landon..." he started hesitantly, "He runs... a business of sorts. And... the money does help and..." _

_ Marie's eyes narrowed, "I'm telling Mom and Dad!" she said, "Landon can't make you do... you do _that_!"_

_ "No!" Dominic grabbed Marie's wrist before she could run to the phone and call them. "You can't!"_

_ Marie stared at him, hurt, uncomprehending, "But you didn't like it! You were crying!"_

_ "It wasn't... it wasn't that bad Marie," he said, still panicking, "Look. You, you just can't!"_

_ There was a long pause, and then, "...alright, but," she looked at him anxiously, "Just, let me know, if... if anything is wrong or... if I can help?"_

_ And so Marie became Dominic's once ally, one confidante in the ordeal, aside from the other whores who understood exactly what he was going through._

_ Crack!_

_ Crack!_

_ Crack!_

_ Crack!_

_ "Say it," Alex commanded._

_Dominic was crying almost too hard to say anything at all._

_ The whip cracked again, and Dominic let out a shriek of pain before blurting out the words Alex had wanted him to say, "I deserve this," he gasped, "Thank you master for this-" another crack, and Dominic let another hiss of pain escape before continuing, "Thank you master for this punishment."_

_ Alex must have been pleased because he didn't let the whip crack again. In stead he grabbed him by the hair, to yank his head up, "Don't ever think about saying no again," he hissed. "I pay good money for this. Maybe I shouldn't though. Maybe I should go back to Spot." Another of the 'boy-toys' his brother offered his costumers, Spot was Dominic's only friend in the business, and as much as Dominic would have loved to agree, no, beg for Alex to go back to him, he couldn't. A lot of the costumers who favored Spot liked it rough, and Dominic had no desire to add another to his load. And this was only a rarity. Compared to the shit Spot's boys sometimes made him do, Alex was positively caring._

_ The whipping was new though, and far worse than anything else Alex had ever done to him or, as far as he knew, to Spot._

_ After Alex had stormed out of the house (Dominic's parents were away for the weekend, so he had not fought Alex too hard when he'd demanded they meet there for their session), Marie crept in. _

_ Her eyes went wide as she took in the dark red welts, some dripping with blood, which criss-crossed across her brother's back. "He can't do this," she whispered. "He can't!"_

_ Dominic, who normally would have argued with her (Alex w_as _the costumer), couldn't. Not because he thought she was right, but because the burning in his back was too great for him to do anything but tremble as he held back his tears for the sake of his little sister._

_ He heard her leave the room, and then come back with bandages, and something that felt cool, and good, on his back. His face never left his pillow; he never looked at her, as she gently bandaged his back. Burning shame of his weakness, having to have his baby sister, who was so young, still in middle school, only an 8th grader, take care of him. _

_ "I'm telling Mom and Dad when they come back," she said, her brave voice trembling. He finally raised his head from his pillow to look at Marie, her hazel eyes filled with tears, mouth trembling, brown curls fighting to escape her ponytail. _

You can't _he thought a little desperately, as he thought of how furious Landon would be. But when he opened his mouth to protest, a groan of pain was all that escaped. _

_ "Get out." _

_ "Mom, Dad, you can't!_

_ "Get out!"_

_ "I'm your son, you love me!"_

_ "YOU'RE NO SON OF OURS!"_

_ Silence followed that remark. _

_ Dominic stood in his mother's silent embrace, with Marie supportively clutching his hand. The three stood a little off to the side, watching the showdown between father and son. _

_ Standing either behind their father, or off to the side, as their mother and two youngest siblings were, stood the other nine siblings of the Lucero family. The three of the five girls were all crying; Mitch, the oldest son, was holding Landon's stuff. He gave Landon a cold look, "You crossed the line," he said flatly. This, more than anything else, highlighted the seriousness of the situation. The entire family watched in silence as Mitch, without hesitation or regret, lifted all of Landon's things, threw open the door, and tossed them into the night._

"_You can't!"_

"_You're 18," Mitch said, almost mockingly. It was terrifying to see the normally joking, good-natured Mitch so... cold. "That's legal. You're an adult. You're on your own."_

"_That's right!" Mitch's twin sister, Melissa, finally spoke up. "You're no longer welcome here." She crossed over to join Marie and their mother with Dominic, and wrapped her arms around him best she could with their mother still clutching him so desperately. _

_Dominic felt a little better at the sign of solidarity his entire family was showing for him. None of them seemed to blame him. Instead they all stood against Landon. It had been Richard, who was only a year older than Landon, and closer to him than to any of the other siblings, who had given Landon that black eye, after he'd come after Dominic for 'letting' their parents to find out. It was Mitch who'd thrown Landon's things into the street. It was his parents who had just disowned Landon. It was all of his siblings who stood against Landon._

_Finally Landon left, but not before throwing a single look at Dominic. Dominic, who could read his brother quite well after working for him for almost a year, knew exactly what that look meant. _You'll be sorry.

**Yeah, you may have noticed this is a bit… darker than anything else I've written. It's a bit darker than most stuff I like as well… But that's ok! Because I think I'm going to have fun with this story, and there will be fluffy moments. Lots of them. I promise!  
>This was written for my dear friend S, for her birthday! Its today by the way. She's finally 16! SO LEAVE A REVIEW! For her birthday of course. She'd want you to, and I'm curious what you think of this story… <strong>

**Ah and the title is only temporary I think, until I figure out a better one. We shall see!**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Bumlets? Bum? Dominic! You alright?" Bumlets shook himself out of his stupor at the sound of his best friends' voices.

Specs and Dutchy, along with two other close friends, Blink and Mush, were all peering at him in concern. "You were totally zoned out," Dutchy said, "We've been trying to get your attention for ages!"

"Sorry," Bumlets smiled, at his friends, "It was nothing. I was just worried about my math test."

Blink and Mush seemed to accept this, though Mush sent him one last concerned glance, before his boyfriend whispered something in his ear which made him blush, and elbow Blink, quite hard if Blink's grunt was anything to go by. Still, he couldn't have been too mad, as the two had begun making out again within moments.

Unsurprisingly Specs and Dutchy seemed to remain unconvinced. All five of them may have been close since kindergarten, but it had always been, somewhat split, into Blink and Mush (whose names had begun to, since they began dating, almost run together until they were almost one being), and Bumlets, Specs, and Dutchy. Even once Specs and Dutchy had begun dating, the friendship between the trio hadn't faltered once. If anything it became stronger. The only difference, in the friendship there was now and the one they'd once had, was that rather than the three of them sitting around laughing and talking, the three of them sat around laughing and talking, with Dutchy clutching Specs' hand, and Specs shooting shy smiles, and the occasional soft blush in Dutchy's direction.

"Seriously what's the matter?" Specs asked softly, leaning in slightly. Dutchy peered over Specs' shoulder so that he too could study Bumlets' face, bright blue eyes shining with concern.

"Its nothing, I'm fine," Bumlets repeated. He had never told his friends about the fiasco that had lasted his entire freshman, and some of his sophomore year. All that the knew was that shortly before Christmas their sophomore year, Bumlets' beloved older brother, the one who he'd looked up to and tried to emulate for most of his life, had been disowned, and that Bumlets, though shaken up about it, had soon returned to his normal self, perhaps somewhat quieter than he once had been, but normal.

Once Landon had left, had been thrown out, really, things had gone mostly back to normal. His parents had gotten him weekly appointments with a psychologist for nearly six months after, and it had been a long time before Bumlets had really felt normal again, but he was. Mostly.

News of Landon being disowned at spread fast. The junior and senior boys who had been Landon's customers knew what that meant. Bumlets knew that some of his brother's 'whores' had continued to serve on their own, but he hadn't. Alex _had _approached him once to ask him to, but Bumlets had, shaking and trembling the whole time, said no, as fast as he could.

Sometimes he wondered if Specs knew more than he'd let on. Bumlets was sure that if he thought about it enough, he could probably figure it out. After all, they hadn't always been Bumlets, Specs, and Dutchy. Back before high school, before Landon, they had been nothing more than Dom, Danny, and Chris. But then he'd become Bumlets, and the other two had noticed after a while, the older boys' habit of calling their friend that, and before long they all had nicknames.

Bumlets also couldn't be certain that Specs hadn't overheard Alex that one time, ask him to continue to serve him. He had never said anything, but he had appeared beside him shortly after Alex had left, and he had in the weeks afterward, noticed Specs sometimes give him a look, a half worried, half scrutinizing look, as if he knew something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what, and was trying desperately to do so.

He was giving him one of those looks right now. "You can tell us you know," Specs said, "We're your friends. We always have been."

"Not always," Bumlets said, without thinking, as he remembered the time before kindergarten, the times at the orphanage before the Luceros had adopted him.

"Well we couldn't help that," Specs said, taken aback.

Bumlets felt bad when he saw his friend's almost insulted look, "I'm sorry," he said, "I know you're my friends, but it really is just my math test. And I didn't get much sleep last night." Bumlets hesitated briefly, and then decided that throwing in a small piece of the truth might satisfy his friends' need to pry into his life, "I was thinking about Landon a bit. I guess I'm still a little worried about him..." No one, as far as he knew, had heard a word from his older brother since that day, near two years before, that he'd been thrown out.

"Well don't be," Specs said sharply, "He doesn't deserve your thoughts."

"What do you mean?" Bumlets asked nervously.

"He hurt you," Specs said, softly, "You didn't deserve that."

"What do you mean?" Bumlets repeated, this time a little angrily.

"Marie told us," Specs said matterafactly, "She wouldn't tell us what exactly he did, but..."

"We were worried about you man," Dutchy cut in, squeezing his boyfriend, then reaching past him to squeeze Bumlets' shoulder, "You were acting weird, skittish, nervous, and you wouldn't tell us why."

Bumlets scowled to himself, "Marie has too big a mouth," he said quietly.

"She was just looking out for you," Specs said in a soft, yet firm, way, which made Bumlets feel like a five-year-old all over again.

"I know," Bumlets said, flipping his hair out of his eyes a little. "It wasn't that bad though... Landon, I mean."

"What did he do?" Dutchy asked curiously. Bumlets hid a smile as Specs gave Dutchy a scolding look, but didn't answer the question. Instead he glanced across the schoolyard at another small group of boys. More friends, though not quite as close.

One of the boys, with curly brown hair, leaned against another, who hid his dark blond hair with a cowboy hat. The other two, appeared to only be talking, although the darker one seemed to keep finding excuses to touch the other.

The fourth boy glanced over for a half a second, and made eye contact with Bumlets. He seemed to understand his SOS, because the lithe boy stood easily, and said something to his friends, who bid him goodbye, and wandered casually over to where Bumlets sat with his friends. "Hey Bum," Spot said, "Bells gonna ring in a few minutes. I'm heading to English now, you coming?"

Bumlets breathed an unnoticeable sigh of relief, "Yeah sure Spot," he flashed a smile at his friends, "See you guys at lunch," and followed Spot into the school.

Spot glanced at him, "You haven't heard anything from Landon?" It was a question Spot always asked, usually accompanied by the nervous shift of his eyes, as he bit his lip in an unusual sign of weakness. Bumlets had a funny feeling that Landon had done something once unusually cruel and inhumane to Spot—as he knew that Landon did like to take advantage of his own whores every now and then. Although he himself had never been subject to it (it appeared that Landon did draw a line somewhere, and having sex with his own brother, even merely adoptive brother, was that line), he'd heard rumors from the others.

"No," Bumlets said quietly, "Nothing. Thanks for helping me out there."

Spot shrugged lazily, "Not a problem. I was looking for an excuse to get away from the boys anyways."

Bumlets glanced over, "The boys? Or Race?"

Spot didn't answer for a long time. Then, finally, he sighed, "Race needs to realize that I don't _do _relationships."

Bumlets frowned, and started, "Look Spot, you can't let Landon ruin whatever you and Race-" And would have said more if he hadn't been plowed over by a speedy Asian rounding the corner at lightning's pace.

"Sorry!" The boy jumped up from the ground and offered his hand to Bumlets. Bumlets accepted the boy's hand, and shared a "WTF" look with Spot.

"Its fine," he said, turning on his nice-guy smile automatically. "Are you new?" he added, a little puzzled as he realized the boy wasn't in uniform.

The boy grinned, "I start next week. My parents were in the office taking care of things, but I got bored so I thought I'd poke around the school a bit..."

"Well there's not much to see now," Spot snorted, "So why don't you go ahead and—"

Bumlets stepped on his foot, a silent reminder to be nice.

The Asian boy flushed lightly and laughed a little, "Well... they told me to meet them back at the office now, but... I kind of got lost..." He flashed a (damn attractive) hopeful grin, and stared at the two boys expectantly.

Bumlets laughed a little. The other boy's eagerness was somewhat... endearing. "The office is just down that hall," Bumlets said, jerking his thumb back towards the way he and Spot had just come, "Around the corner, third door on the left. Good luck... maybe I'll see you when you start." Then having done his good deed for the day, proceeded to continue on his way to English with Spot, forgetting all about the new guy he'd bumped into; not even finding him significant enough to mention to his friends later that day at lunch.

But if he _had_ thought to spare the boy just one last glance, to look back one more time, he would have seen the transfer student staring after him, wide eyes alight with some unreadable emotion…

**And there's the first 'real' chapter. If you don't count the prologue. That's all for today though. My deadline for the next chapter is S's half birthday… May 27****th****, but if you're lucky I'll feel inspired enough to finish another chapter before then. =P **


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